A German Humboldt Scientist Alumni Award winner and Professor of Plant Physiology, Professor Odunayo Clement Adebooye, has proposed the establishment of a National Under-utilized Plants Research Institute.

He made this statement while delivering the third inaugural lecture titled, ‘Exploring the Vegetables’ World: Nutraceutical and Physiological Investigations’, at the Main Campus of Osun State University. He said, ‘There are several vegetables which are eaten by only the poor rural dwellers which I often refer to as “food of our fathers” because most urban elites do not know them and possibly have never seen them before. This therefore calls for a re-orientation of the research mandate in our Universities and Research Institutes.’ He then recommended the establishment of a National Under-utilized Plants Research Institute (NUPRI) by the Federal Government of Nigeria.